Decline of Civilizations and Male Mortality

Here is an outstanding piece in Vality Fair on the decline of civilizations. The author mentions the mortality of men as a factor, referring to his own country as follows:

'Take Scotland, the land of my birth. Male life expectancy in some parts of Glasgow is now as low as 54. There has been a 350 percent rise in alcohol-related deaths in the last two decades. About 13,000 people die from smoking-related diseases every year. More than a third of Scotland's 12-year-olds are overweight or clinically obese.'

Sadly he doesn't mention this as the tragedy in and of itself that it is. But the points he makes are well-taken. The well-being of a civilization's men is intimately intertwined with its chances of survival. I don't mean to sound too much the pessimist, but as the health and status of men in the west continues to decline, so will whatever is left of western civilization, unless something changes rather dramatically and quickly.